depression

Spiritual Endeavour: Dark Night of the Soul – 4

By Brian Alger on 09/23/2011

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Dark Night of the Soul

[Exploring Life] When we receive an education we are placed into a system of prerequisites that have been determined by an amorphous agency. By definition, education is an experience that is predetermined, imposed, rigidly structured, and bound to a self-reinforcing system of evaluation. The essence of the education system originates in automation, mechanization, generalization, and [...]

Posted in 3. SPIRIT | Tagged anxiety, apprehension, assimilation, assumptions, attention, awareness, belief, belonging, comprehension, conditioning, creativity, culture, darkness, depression, education, fear, gratitude, inevitables, knowledge, learning, medium, mental discipline, point-of-no-return, prerequisite, presence, regret, sacred, self-reliance, soul, spiritual response, spirituality, stress, threshold, transience | 4 Responses

Spiritual Endeavour: Dark Night of the Soul – 3

By Brian Alger on 04/10/2011

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Dark Night of the Soul

[Exploring Life] One important outcome of a dark night of the soul, if it is ever attained, is what St. John of the Cross refers to as spiritual purification. A basic premise in the dark night is that both our senses and our spirit must be cleansed in order to purify the soul, and therefore [...]

Posted in 3. SPIRIT | Tagged adventure, anxiety, attention, awareness, capacity, conditioning, confinement, contemplation, darkness, death, depression, dying, education, emotions, evil, fear, gratitude, grief, healing, impermanence, inevitables, journey, loss, medium, mental degradation, mental discipline, pain, point-of-no-return, quality, shadow, soul, spiritual quality, spiritual response, spirituality, suffering, threshold, transience | 4 Responses

Spiritual Endeavor: Dark Night of the Soul – 2

By Brian Alger on 03/18/2011

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Dark Night of the Soul

[Exploring Life] The Artistry of the Night: In the previous article I suggested that a dark night of the soul is one of the most profound and authentic, yet grievous, creative experiences we might have in life. When we are touched by the night we are compelled to retrieve our innate sense of artistry as [...]

Posted in 3. SPIRIT | Tagged attention, awareness, conditioning, death, depression, dying, emotions, fear, focus, grief, impermanence, inevitables, journey, loss, memory, point-of-no-return, presence, regret, sadness, soul, spirituality, stress, suffering, threshold, transience | Leave a response

Spiritual Endeavor: Dark Night of the Soul – 1

By Brian Alger on 03/17/2011

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Dark Night of the Soul

[Exploring Life] On a Dark Night… Darkness means an absence or deficiency of light. From a spiritual perspective, darkness creates an intuitive space in which the fragility of our beliefs about the meaning and purpose of our lives becomes uncomfortably apparent. To enter into a spiritual darkness is to begin an excruciating journey into of [...]

Posted in 3. SPIRIT | Tagged contemplation, creativity, darkness, depression, destruction, grief, growth, loss, meaning, meditation, pain, point-of-no-return, presence, religion, soul, spirituality, suffering, threshold | 1 Response